Tuesday, February 15, 2011

2012: The "Cosmic Alignment" and the Maya Birth Canal

Two postings ago I wrote about Peter Gersten's planned "Leap of Faith" from Bell's Rock in Sedona, Arizona at the precise moment of the December solstice in 2012. He thinks that some "trans-dimensional event" will occur, sucking him into it, where he will probably meet the late members of the Heavens Gate cult, still wearing their sneakers, as well as Jimmy Hoffa and Judge Crater. I said there was no unusual "alignment" occurring at that time. Gersten disagreed, and pointed me to some information about a supposed alignment of the Sun with the Galactic Equator, at the moment of the solstice. I then wrote another posting, pointing out that this supposed alignment actually took place in 1998,  and in any case is "signifying nothing." Gersten disagreed again, and pointed me to the Really Good stuff: Thomas Razetto's claims about the supposed alignment of the solstice point with the Great Rift of the Milky Way, also (allegedly) known as the Maya Birth Canal. This, says Razetto, constitutes "The Sacred Triple Rebirth of the Sun."

The "Great Rift" or "Dark Rift" of the Milky Way is simply big old cloud of dust and gas along the Galactic plane that obscures the stars behind it. Many galaxies have this, not just ours. Since we have seen in the last posting that the Sun is not aligned with the Galactic Equator at the time of the 2012 winter solstice (although it would make no difference even if it were), if you look around hard enough, you'll find something that the Sun is aligned with. In this case, it's the Milky Way's Great Rift. Throw a few planets into the mix, and you can fashion up a "Sacred Tree." Razetto apparently doesn't care that Pluto has now been (quite properly) downgraded to the rank of the minor planets. Is he going to include Ceres, Vesta, Sedna, and Chiron in his "alignment" as well?

I think any rational person can see that this "Sacred Triple Rebirth" of the Sun and the "Sacred Tree" is a load of horse manure, especially when it comes from a website calling itself "infinitely mystical." I could make up a similar "cosmic alignment" story for practically any equinox or solstice, throw in a few planets, and invent some high-sounding reason why it signals the beginning of a Cosmic New Age. Most people don't realize that the inner planets Mercury and Venus spend a lot of time (from the earth's perspective) hanging out in the vicinity of the Sun, and since Mars is on the opposite side of the Sun from us at that time, it appears to move more slowly than at other times, and thus, yes, also seems to loiter for a long time in the vicinity of the Sun. To find any significance whatsoever to having Mercury, Venus, and Mars in the vicinity of the Sun at some random time requires one to be ignorant of planetary orbits. But forget all these facts: this is astrology, plain and simple, and astrology is ancient superstition, nothing more. It doesn't matter where this planet is, or that planet. It's all humbug.

Since Gersten finds Razetto's claims to be convincing, so convincing that he is willing to risk almost certain death because of it, there is nothing more for the rational person to say. When Faith clashes with Reason, Faith wins out nearly every time. I can only wish him well, and hope that he acquires at least a little bit of common sense on this subject in the next 675 days (the "countdown" is on his website) and not go through with his mad plan.

And I've said enough about the supposed "Cosmic Alignments" of 2012. This posting and the one before it lay out what the case is supposed to be for the 2012 solstice to be something cosmically special. As you can see, there is absolutely nothing unusual or special occurring at that time. It's just the same old "when the Moon is in the Seventh House, and Jupiter aligns with Mars." I suggest that anyone who has gotten even a little worried by all the Doomsday talk about 2012 read these postings carefully. If you realize that you've gotten all worked up over a "Sacred Tree" superimposed over the "Maya Birth Canal," you're going to feel rather silly about it. Or at least I would.

8 comments:

  1. "When Faith clashes with Reason, Faith wins out nearly every time."

    "The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. He is the man who has lost everything except his reason."

    - G.K. Chesterton.

    Mr. Gersten is not without his reasons, and he certainly has a logic that is internally consistent and defendable from his perspective. Of course, the only problem is that its disengaged at root from the truth.

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  2. Something I don't get: the sun is basically spherical so isn't it essentially "aligned" with everything in *every* direction?

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  3. Mr. Bradley,
    Well-said. I think it's one of those cases of "a foolish consistency..."

    Old Rockin' Dave,

    "Align" doesn't mean "point to." It means "to appear to line up with." When they say that at the winter solstice of 1998, the Sun aligned with the Galactic Equator, they mean that the sun actually passed in front of that imaginary line where it crosses that other imaginary line, the ecliptic, at the moment of solstice.

    But an "alignment" doesn't usually mean "pass in front of" (that's an occultation"). When we say "Jupiter aligns with Mars," usually what we mean is that as the planets approach each other, as seen from earth, at the moment of their closest proximity they are "aligned." Typically, "aligned" planets can be several degrees apart.

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  4. If you are used to thinking about it from a sun-centered view instead of an Earth-centered one you will see why I was perplexed.

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  5. Question: Have you heard of the release of ET Message Key sent to us from another civilazation in another galaxy? Well the NSA just released this doc 6 days ago. In it, it goes over what was sent to us almost 3 decades ago. Look it up and you will see that Spudnick recieved this msg and in it is very complicated math. Not all of it has been deciphered but what has been deciphered is what looks to be their periodic table among other things we have in common with eachother. They're heeere!

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  6. Hi! Thomas Razzeto here. I just want to clarify a few misunderstandings. First and foremost, I have never stated that the astronomy of 2012 will cause anything unusual to happen to us. I think that the Maya are using the astronomy as the foundation for their metaphor of transformation and rebirth. This is a timeless metaphor that meant something very important to them 2,000 years ago. Most people today will not care and do not need to care about it in the least. You all can safely ignore the Maya calendar and any predictions about what will happen to us in the time around 2012.

    But the Maya did point to the winter solstice of 2012 with their Long Count calendar for a reason and if you are curious about what that reason was, I have provided some links to my work below. And, by the way, I am not talking about the so called “Galactic Alignment,” which was a term invented - and precisely defined - by John Major Jenkins. That already peaked in 1998. What I point to is easily understood as the triple rebirth of the sun and the special configuration of the sacred tree. (I don’t use the term “alignment” unless I am discussing the so-called galactic alignment.) So for those of you that are interested, here are some links:

    Why the Maya Picked 2012
    http://www.infinitelymystical.com/essays/why-maya-picked-2012.html

    The Actual Astronomy of 2012 in a Nutshell
    http://www.infinitelymystical.com/essays/2012-nutshell.html

    Did Extraterrestrials Create the Maya Calendar?
    http://www.infinitelymystical.com/essays/et-2012.html
    (Nope, but it is an interesting question.)

    All my 2012 essays are here:
    http://www.infinitelymystical.com/2012-essays.html

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    Replies
    1. Actually, I (Ray Mardyks ~ galactic astrologer) coined the phrase "galactic alignment" in relationship to 2012 and the Maya calendar. This has been documented by Professor John Hoopes on Wikipedia's 2012 Phenomenon page. It is indeed an astrological concept, but not astrology as understood by Mr. Sheaffer, and those who have never had an "astrological experience". For what its worth, the galactic alignment was composed of the solstices and equinoxes from circa 1987 (Harmonic Convergence) through December 2012, when the Sun, at the moment of the solstices, was "aligned" with the galactic equator, also known as the Milky Way. John Major Jenkins and others took my astrological concept, without ever understanding it, or having had the "experience", attributed the galactic alignment (my idea!) to the Ancient Maya (no evidence what so ever) and the rest is ... well ... not pseudoscience, but something even worse ~ pseudoastrology.

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  7. "But the Maya did point to the winter solstice of 2012 with their Long Count calendar for a reason"

    Because it started on August 11, 3114 BC and they use a modified base 20 to count forwards? Saying the Mayans picked a particular date moving forwards is like saying the Romans picked 2247 because that happens to be 3000 ab urbe condita.

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